Conventional health plans, in general, do not effectively encourage their members to minimize their medical expenses or to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Instead, members often attempt to draw the maximum possible benefits from their health plan, based on their view that their contributions to the plan will otherwise be “wasted”. One approach, which has been adopted in an attempt to address this syndrome, is the introduction of savings plans, in terms of which members claim benefits at a lower rate than normal and accrue funds in a savings account.
In many instances, a health plan is offered by an employer to its employees. An employer may also offer wellness programs to its employees in conjunction with a health plan. Wellness programs provide facilities, services, and anything else that promotes a healthier lifestyle. However most wellness programs are not associated with an incentive program to effectively encourage participants such as employees to fully utilize the programs. Also, most wellness programs are not integrated with payroll systems so that contribution adjustments, discounts, and/or rebates can be given to an employee based on wellness program participation.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.